The Distillations crew takes a break every August to regroup and plan for the next season’s shows. So instead of new material, we pull together our favorite segments from episodes past. This one includes a few of my personal favorites: James Voelkel’s essay on Palmer the Poisoner from our Forensics show, Gigi Naglak on how maggots are used to treat infections from our Gross Out episode. And finally, Josh Kurz’s feature on how placebos manage to fool the brain.
Month: July 2011
I didn’t have much to do with this show other than a few early conversations with indie feature producer Zoe Sullivan, but I couldn’t resist posting this one anyway, especially with a title like “Chem-moo-stry.” Details from the the Distillations website:
Over a billion cows are currently grazing on lands across the world, but what do we actually know about them? They’re big. They moo. They give us milk. But what else? On today’s show Distillations is answering some long-standing questions about cattle. First, we find out why the effects of dairy are nonexistent for some and unbearable for others. Then, producer Zoe Sullivan takes us to a research farm at the University of Wisconsin where scientists are exploring the mechanisms of cow digestion—with a little help from the clear, removable “portholes” implanted into its research cows.
Image courtesy of Flickr user twbuckner.
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